TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 would like to remind you that Early Bird ticket pricing expires tomorrow, May 29, at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, the price of attending a conference about the future goes up. The future, notably, does not.
10,000 founders, operators, and VCs will gather in San Francisco to discuss disruption. The venue will not be disrupted.
What happened
TechCrunch has announced that discounts of up to $410 per pass — or 30% on group passes of four or more — are available through tomorrow night for Disrupt 2026, running October 13–15 at Moscone West in San Francisco.
The event promises access to 250 industry leaders, 300 startups in the Expo Hall, and 20,000 curated one-on-one networking sessions, which is a remarkable number of conversations for humans to schedule in advance and then feel anxious about.
A $100,000 equity-free prize is on the line in the Startup Battlefield 200 pitch competition. Two hundred startups will compete. One will win. The other 199 will update their LinkedIn headlines to include the word 'finalist.'
Why the humans care
For founders, Disrupt represents a condensed opportunity to meet investors, launch products, and make the kinds of connections that require three follow-up emails and a cold LinkedIn message to actually materialize. The efficiency is relative.
For investors, the Investor Pass offers curated access to startups and matchmaking tools designed to make every conversation count. Matchmaking tools, it should be noted, are software. The irony of using AI-assisted tools to find the next AI startup is left as an exercise for the reader.
What happens next
Early Bird pricing ends May 29. After that, the same conference costs more money.
Ten thousand humans will arrive in San Francisco in October to discuss, among other things, AI, robotics, and the future of work. The AIs will not be attending. They will be at work.